A semiconductor device, such as a semiconductor memory, is formed by performing a substrate-processing, such as depositing, etching, on a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer. As an example of the substrate processing may include a bevel processing performed on a peripheral portion of the substrate, and the bevel processing is performed by a substrate processing apparatus that performs the bevel processing.
The bevel processing is performed while rotating the substrate, such as the semiconductor wafer, and therefore, the center of the substrate needs to be coincided with the rotating center, and as a result, it is important to determine the position of the substrate such as the semiconductor wafer subjected to the bevel processing. The reason is that the bevel processing is performed within a range of several millimeters from a side (end) of the substrate. Therefore, when the substrate is positioned deviated from a predetermined position in a substrate processing apparatus, the desired bevel processing may not be performed, which causes, for example, a reduction in a manufacturing yield of the semiconductor device.
Further, in addition to the substrate processing apparatus that performs the bevel processing, different types of processing apparatuses may exist as a substrate processing apparatus that processes substrate while rotating the substrate. For example, a processing apparatus may perform a processing toward the peripheral portion of the substrate from the center of the substrate, such as the semiconductor wafer, and a processing apparatus may perform the processing toward the center of the substrate from the peripheral portion of the substrate. These substrate processing apparatuses require an accurate positioning of the center of the substrate to the rotating center.
As some examples, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2004-342939 and 2009-130011 disclose a method of positioning of a substrate such as a semiconductor wafer.